Making Room for Kindness: The Power of Small Gestures

October 21, 2026

Good morning, coffee drinkers!

Pull up a chair. If you’re on your second cup, you’re in good company. If you’re on your third, we may need you to chair the meeting.

Cozy café interior with coffee, open notebook, plants, and sunset windows

This morning, I’ve been thinking about what keeps people going. Especially during those stretches when the news is exhausting, the future looks uncertain, and even the coffee seems to be taking its sweet time doing its job.

I keep coming back to the folks who make room for somebody else.

A chair pulled out. A phone call answered. Someone saying, “Sit down a minute. Tell me what’s going on.”

Small things, until you need them.

When we look back at history, we usually remember the people whose names made it into the books. Presidents, inventors, leaders, and the brave souls who stood before crowds and demanded something better.

But behind those moments were people making sandwiches, arranging rides, watching children, and opening their homes. Someone stayed late to clean up. Someone brought an extra coat. Someone made sure the person who had spoken so courageously didn’t have to walk home alone.

We ought to remember those folks, too.

Their contributions remind me that you don’t have to command an audience to help change somebody’s life. Sometimes you just have to notice who’s having a hard time getting through the day.

Of course, looking back requires some honesty. The old days held kindness, but they also held closed doors. Plenty of people were expected to remain quiet, stay out of sight, or accept whatever place somebody else had assigned them.

Some of us remember that part quite well.

And yet, people kept finding one another. They built friendships, communities, and families. They stood beside someone when doing so could cost them something. Slowly, through effort and setbacks, they opened doors that others would eventually walk through.

That gives me hope for what comes next.

I can’t tell you what the world will look like twenty years from now. I’m still trying to figure out why every device in this house needs an update just when I’ve learned how to use it.

But I do wonder what people will remember about us.

Will they remember that we listened? That we checked on someone? That when a person was being pushed aside, we moved over and made room?

We have some say in those answers today.

We can disagree and still care whether someone gets home safely. We can be tired and still offer a kind word. We can admit we don’t have a solution and stay long enough to hear the problem.

So, folks, as we finish our coffee, perhaps we can think of one person who could use a little company. Send the message. Make the call. Pull out the chair.

Someday, this morning will belong to the past, too.

Let’s give somebody a good reason to remember it.